Friday, January 25, 2008

A Bully in the Making

Tree Faerie is cutting a new tooth - the front upper right tooth. There is an obvious bump on her gums, but the tooth hasn't quite broken through yet. She hasn't wanted to chew on anything cold this time, though, only cool, room temperature, or warm (like ME!). Once this tooth breaks through, that will give her a total of 3 teeth.

I am certainly not complaining, though, especially after the week we've had. Tree Faerie has bit my nipples multiple times, which is to be expected since I'm still nursing her. What wasn't expected was the hair-pulling and pinching she's started doing. The only thing more irritating than being pinched is having my hair pulled (all sexual comments aside). Nothing irritates me more than her grubby little hands reaching out and grabbing a handful of hair. I don't mind if she gently strokes my hair or lets it flow through her fingers, but when she grabs a handful and yanks, I really want to do terrible things! Instead I just scream, which she finds hilarious.

Wednesday night, however, I finally started fighting back. When she grabbed the first handful of hair, I pried her fingers open and told her to stop. The second time, she grabbed two fistfuls and hung on for dear life! So, I did what my mother told me to do - I pulled her hair! Needless to say, she wasn't too thrilled with her hair being pulled, which I didn't do very hard. She didn't let go of my hair, though, so I did it again. We got into a little hair-pulling battle for a few minutes, during which she sat on my face and farted, but she finally let go of my hair.

And proceeded to pinch and scratch me repeatedly.

By this point, the pinching didn't seem so bad. At least for the first minute and a half. I finally started pinching her back! I didn't pinch her hard enough to make a mark, but hard enough to let her know how annoying it felt. She finally stopped and we moved on to tickling and kisses.

I know Tree Faerie knows the meaning of the words No, Stop, Don't, and Gentle. Since she's choosing not to heed these words, she's now learning what the phrase, "If you don't stop, I'm going to do it to you and see how you like it!" I know I'm supposed to be the adult in this relationship, but sometimes you have to talk to them on their level, right?

Though if I ever wished to be one year old again, I don't think hair-pulling, pinching, scratching, and biting would be on my list of things-I-want-to-do-again.

13 comments:

Coal Miner's Granddaughter said...

Hey, it's the only way they learn that it hurts! I've bitten Bubba to show him, after particularly painful bites from him, that it hurts! This is how they learn.

Good job, Mom! And great look to the site!

KATE said...

I love the new look!

Sorry you're getting your hair yanked out! Hopefully she'll stop when the tooth breaks thru & she's feeling better!

Military Mom said...

Love the new layout! I can relate to the hair pulling and the biting, I had 3 myself. But because I work, I usually had to quit nursing around 6 months, so I guess it wasn't so bad. Keep it up, it gets easier.

TTQ said...

Pretty! Looks good! I love Dragon Flys...

My husband pinches me when he's feeling sassy (do men get sassy?). Not hard enough to leave a mark or hurt but just to annoy me, crying out for attention. I ignore him and send him the "icy do it again and you'll be sorry look".

And I thought when I grew up that boys would quit "yanking pony tails". I was wrong. Sigh.

Unknown said...

CMGD - thanks! And thanks for your help this morning.

Kate - I certainly hope so... She seemed to really enjoy pulling my hair.

MM - That's what they keep telling me! "Easier" is a relative term, I think...

TTQ - No, they never grow out of it. My husband still does it to me, only not so much pinching as kicking me (gently of course) in the butt or things like that. He hates pinching, though, almost as much as I hate hair-pulling.

Monnik said...

oooh, pretty new layout!

I LOLed at the thought of her farting on you. :)

Unknown said...

Monnik - So did I, despite the hair pulling. :)

Patti said...

farting directly on a face can cause pink eye. please don't ask me how i know this. please....

Annikke said...

Sometimes they test and then that's the only way they will learn!

Unknown said...

"she sat on my face and farted"

Okay, that was too funny!

icanseeclearlynow said...

andrea, THIS new look is more like you. with the old layout, i always thought it didn't fit your personality. i LOVE the layout, it looks GREAT!

when my girls were small it was pinching. yep, you're handing it right. letting tree faerie know what it feels like.

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

For some it works and for others... well not so much! Good luck here's hoping that she's a learner! On the biting issue, I poked my little biters in the cheek and that usually stopped them, they were learners! :D

Not Afraid to Use It said...

I love the new layout as well. Very nice.

It is amazing how many people get bent out of shape when you tell them that you pulled your child's hair or bit them back. It's not like you took a chunk out of them, kwim? It is a gentle way to teach that what they are doing is painful. Another child retaliating would not be so gentle. I hope TF stops with all the biting and pinching. LittleMan never did. I made it to a year nursing him, but just barely. He was a stubborn little shit. But so am I.